Megacopta cribraria

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Megacopta cribraria
Megacopta cribraria.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Infraorder: Pentatomomorpha
Superfamily: Pentatomoidea
Family: Plataspidae
Genus: Megacopta
Species:
M. cribraria
Binomial name
Megacopta cribraria
(Fabricius, 1798)
Synonyms
  • Cimex cribrariaFabricius, 1798
  • Tetyra cribraria(Fabricius, 1798)
  • Thyreocoris cribrarius(Fabricius, 1798)
  • Coptosoma cribrarium(Fabricius, 1798)
  • Coptosoma xanthochloraWalker 1867
Distribution of Megacopta cribraria in the USA (2009-2012) Megacopta cribraria distribution map.svg
Distribution of Megacopta cribraria in the USA (2009–2012)
Figure 1. Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius 1798) collected in GA, Baldwin CO on 21 Sept 2024 by S. Mears Megacopta cribraria 21 Sept 2024.jpg
Figure 1. Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius 1798) collected in GA, Baldwin CO on 21 Sept 2024 by S. Mears

Megacopta cribraria, also called the bean plataspid, kudzu bug, globular stink bug and lablab bug, is a shield bug native to India and China, where it is an agricultural pest of lablab beans and other legumes. [2] The bug, while harmless to houseplants and people, often enters houses. It is attracted to white surfaces such as the walls of houses or white vehicles, because of the high reflectance of the white surfaces as it relates to the bugs' simple eyes. As a defense mechanism, they emit a foul-smelling pheromone that also acts as a congregation pheromone. Aside from smelling foul, the liquid also creates a burning sensation and sometimes leaves a red welt on bare skin. [3] It is similar to other Plataspidae in having a somewhat unusual symbiotic relationship with its gut bacteria. Before laying eggs, females deposit particles containing the symbiont, which are then eaten by newly hatched nymphs under natural conditions. Nymphs experimentally deprived of access to the symbiont exhibited slower growth, smaller body sizes and higher mortality. [4]

Contents

The bean plataspid gives off an offensive odor when touched, squashed, or poked. Hosted by wisteria, green beans, and other legumes, the insect sucks juice from the stems of soybean plants and reduces crop yield. However, when the insect infests kudzu, another invasive species, it appreciably reduces the growth of that plant. [3]

Ecology

In 2011 in its invasive range in Georgia, M. cribraria's aggregation score - Taylor's Power Law/Taylor's Law b - had an extremely high slope for adults. The badults was 3.27 ± 0.115 and badults > bnymphs > beggs. By the next year - and continuing at least into 2013 - the adult score was much lower and the order was reversed, with beggs > bnymphs > badults. [5]

Hosts

Cajanus cajan , Vigna unguiculata , Glycine max , Lablab purpureus , and Cyamopsis tetragonoloba . [6]

Microbiome

Females are found by Hosokawa et al 2008 to produce pellets with their own microbiome species and deposit them near their eggs. Larvae then search for and consume these. If these pellets are absent they will search more than those successfully finding pellets, suggesting that microbiome provision is indeed the purpose of this entire process and this is not accidental. [7]

Symbionts

M. cribraria lives in symbiosis with γ-proteobacteria, [8] the bacterium Candidatus Ishikawaella/Candidatus Ishikawaella capsulata. Douglas 2015 [9] interprets the results of Brown et al 2014 as finding this symbiont to be retained – identically – in the eastern North American invasive range, so its successful invasion and devastation of crops there is not due to symbiont switching. Douglas believes this is unsurprising given that M. cribraria has not switched host plants, and symbiont switching is a strategy which has been seen in invasive insects which need to digest an unfamiliar host native to their new range. Arora and Douglas 2017 [10] interpret Brown to have not differentiated between various Ishikawaella and therefore the question of switching within the same genus remains open. Hosokawa et al 2007 similarly finds M. punctatissima and not M. cribraria to be naturally able to infest G. max , but that this is solely due to Ishikawaella and can be experimentally induced in M. cribraria by giving it M. punctatissima's symbiont. [11] [10] [12] This sharp difference in function is produced by a very small genetic difference: Hosokawa et al 2007 finds their 16S ribosomal RNAs to be 99.9% identical. [8]

Southeastern United States

Santee National Wildlife Refuge, SC, USA Kudzu Bug - Megacopta cribraria, Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Santee, North Carolina.jpg
Santee National Wildlife Refuge, SC, USA

In the Southeastern United States, M. cribraria is an invasive species, and was first noticed in northeastern Georgia in 2009. [9] [5] As of 2012, it was spreading rapidly into the surrounding states of Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. It has recently begun to invade Maryland and Mississippi, as well. In 2017, M. cribraria was observed in Texas. [13]

Current research

Universities and corporations throughout the Southeastern United States have begun research into alternative means of dealing with the kudzu bug. Universities in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, such as North Carolina State University and Georgia State University, have produced publications since 2011 until 2014 regarding M. cribraria pest management. One recent work demonstrates that the kudzu bug's diet in Alabama is broader than originally believed. [14]

In theory the complete dependence of the pest upon the symbiont for pest phenotype recommends an easy control method: Deliberately provide Ishikawaella which is defective on G. max. Even better this would then be transmitted vertically. However, because the effective symbiont is also already present in the target population, there is no reason to think that the defective symbiont would overwhelm or even persist alongside the pest enabling symbiont. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endosymbiont</span> Organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism

An endosymbiont or endobiont is an organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism. Typically the two organisms are in a mutualistic relationship. Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which live in the root nodules of legumes, single-cell algae inside reef-building corals, and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aphid</span> Superfamily of insects

Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A typical life cycle involves flightless females giving live birth to female nymphs—who may also be already pregnant, an adaptation scientists call telescoping generations—without the involvement of males. Maturing rapidly, females breed profusely so that the number of these insects multiplies quickly. Winged females may develop later in the season, allowing the insects to colonize new plants. In temperate regions, a phase of sexual reproduction occurs in the autumn, with the insects often overwintering as eggs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentatomoidea</span> Superfamily of true bugs

The Pentatomoidea are a superfamily of insects in the suborder Heteroptera of the order Hemiptera. As hemipterans, they possess a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. The roughly 7000 species under Pentatomoidea are divided into 21 families. Among these are the stink bugs and shield bugs, jewel bugs, giant shield bugs, and burrower bugs.

<i>Wolbachia</i> Genus of bacteria in the Alphaproteobacteria class

Wolbachia is a genus of gram-negative bacteria infecting many species of arthropods and filarial nematodes. The symbiotic relationship ranges from parasitism to obligate mutualism. It is one of the most common parasitic microbes of arthropods, and is possibly the most widespread reproductive parasite bacterium in the biosphere. Its interactions with hosts are complex and highly diverse across different host species. Some host species cannot reproduce, or even survive, without Wolbachia colonisation. One study concluded that more than 16% of neotropical insect species carry bacteria of this genus, and as many as 25 to 70% of all insect species are estimated to be potential hosts.

<i>Lablab</i> Species of plant

Lablab purpureus is a species of bean in the family Fabaceae. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa and India and it is cultivated throughout the tropics for food. English language common names include hyacinth bean, lablab-beanbonavist bean/pea, dolichos bean, seim or sem bean, lablab bean, Egyptian kidney bean, Indian bean, bataw and Australian pea. Lablab is a monotypic genus.

<i>Beauveria bassiana</i> Species of fungus

Beauveria bassiana is a fungus that grows naturally in soils throughout the world and acts as a parasite on various arthropod species, causing white muscardine disease; it thus belongs to the group of entomopathogenic fungi. It is used as a biological insecticide to control a number of pests, including termites, thrips, whiteflies, aphids and various beetles. Its use in the control of bed bugs and malaria-transmitting mosquitos is under investigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aposymbiosis</span>

Aposymbiosis occurs when symbiotic organisms live apart from one another. Studies have shown that the lifecycles of both the host and the symbiont are affected in some way, usually negative, and that for obligate symbiosis the effects can be drastic. Aposymbiosis is distinct from exsymbiosis, which occurs when organisms are recently separated from a symbiotic association. Because symbionts can be vertically transmitted from parent to offspring or horizontally transmitted from the environment, the presence of an aposymbiotic state suggests that transmission of the symbiont is horizontal. A classical example of a symbiotic relationship with an aposymbiotic state is the Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes and the bioluminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri. While the nocturnal squid hunts, the bacteria emit light of similar intensity of the moon which camouflages the squid from predators. Juveniles are colonized within hours of hatching and Vibrio must outcompete other bacteria in the seawater through a system of recognition and infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insect ecology</span> The study of how insects interact with the surrounding environment

Insect ecology is the interaction of insects, individually or as a community, with the surrounding environment or ecosystem. This interaction is mostly mediated by the secretion and detection of chemicals (semiochemical) in the environment by insects. Semiochemicals are secreted by the organisms in the environment and they are detected by other organism such as insects. Semiochemicals used by organisms, including (insects) to interact with other organism either of the same species or different species can generally grouped into four. These are pheromone, synomones, allomone and kairomone. Pheromones are semiochemicals that facilitates interaction between organisms of same species. Synomones benefit both the producer and receiver, allomone is advantageous to only the producer whiles kairomones is beneficial to the receiver. Insect interact with other species within their community and these interaction include mutualism, commensalism, ammensalism, parasitism and neutralisms.

Nancy A. Moran is an American evolutionary biologist and entomologist, University of Texas Leslie Surginer Endowed Professor, and co-founder of the Yale Microbial Diversity Institute. Since 2005, she has been a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. Her seminal research has focused on the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum and its bacterial symbionts including Buchnera (bacterium). In 2013, she returned to the University of Texas at Austin, where she continues to conduct research on bacterial symbionts in aphids, bees, and other insect species. She has also expanded the scale of her research to bacterial evolution as a whole. She believes that a good understanding of genetic drift and random chance could prevent misunderstandings surrounding evolution. Her current research goal focuses on complexity in life-histories and symbiosis between hosts and microbes, including the microbiota of insects.

<i>Acyrthosiphon pisum</i> Species of true bug

Acyrthosiphon pisum, commonly known as the pea aphid, is a sap-sucking insect in the family Aphididae. It feeds on several species of legumes worldwide, including forage crops, such as pea, clover, alfalfa, and broad bean, and ranks among the aphid species of major agronomical importance. The pea aphid is a model organism for biological study whose genome has been sequenced and annotated.

<i>Diaphorina citri</i> Species of true bug

Diaphorina citri, the Asian citrus psyllid, is a sap-sucking, hemipteran bug now in the taxonomic family Psyllidae. It is one of two confirmed vectors of citrus greening disease. It has a wide distribution in southern Asia and has spread to other citrus growing regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plataspidae</span> Family of true bugs

Plataspidae are a family of shield bugs native to the Old World. They are a family of hemipteran insects of the suborder Heteroptera.

The initial acquisition of microbiota is the formation of an organism's microbiota immediately before and after birth. The microbiota are all the microorganisms including bacteria, archaea and fungi that colonize the organism. The microbiome is another term for microbiota or can refer to the collected genomes.

Hologenomics is the omics study of hologenomes. A hologenome is the whole set of genomes of a holobiont, an organism together with all co-habitating microbes, other life forms, and viruses. While the term hologenome originated from the hologenome theory of evolution, which postulates that natural selection occurs on the holobiont level, hologenomics uses an integrative framework to investigate interactions between the host and its associated species. Examples include gut microbe or viral genomes linked to human or animal genomes for host-microbe interaction research. Hologenomics approaches have also been used to explain genetic diversity in the microbial communities of marine sponges.

Strongygaster triangulifera is a species of bristle fly in the family Tachinidae. It is a generalist parasitoid of adult insects, including Coleoptera from over 10 families, as well as Dermaptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, and Orthoptera.

Vertical transmission of symbionts is the transfer of a microbial symbiont from the parent directly to the offspring. Many metazoan species carry symbiotic bacteria which play a mutualistic, commensal, or parasitic role. A symbiont is acquired by a host via horizontal, vertical, or mixed transmission.

<i>Megacopta</i> Genus of true bugs

Megacopta is a genus of true bugs in the family Plataspidae.

<i>Brachyplatys subaeneus</i> Species of true bug

Brachyplatys subaeneus, also referred to as the black bean bug, is a species of shield bugs belonging to the family Plataspidae, occurring throughout much of Asia, and invasive elsewhere. It is known to be a pest, particularly in legume crops, but infests a wide range of plant species.

Specificity in symbiosis refers to the taxonomic range with which an organism associates in a symbiosis. In a symbiosis between a larger organism such as a plant or an animal and a microorganism specificity can be looked at both from the perspective of the host i.e. how many different species of symbionts does the host associate with, as well as from the perspective of the symbiont i.e. how many different host species can a symbiont associate with.

Synona obscura, is a species of lady beetle found in India and Sri Lanka.

References

  1. ↑ Abbott, John C.; Abbott, Kendra (2023). Insects of North America. Princeton field guides. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-23285-0. OCLC   1330197699.
  2. ↑ Dowdy, Sharon (November 10, 2009). "Bug found in Georgia a threat to soybeans?". Southeast Farm Press. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Dowdy, Sharon (Aug 29, 2011). "Kudzu bug spreading rapidly across Southern states". Southeast Farm Press. Retrieved Aug 29, 2011.
  4. ↑ Horn, Scott & James L. Hanula (January 2011). "Influence of Trap Color on Collection of the Recently-Introduced Bean Plataspid, Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae)". Journal of Entomological Science. 46 (1): 85–87. doi:10.18474/0749-8004-46.1.85. S2CID   6862031.
  5. 1 2 Taylor, R. A. J. (2019). Taylor's Power Law : Order and Pattern in Nature. London: Academic Press. pp. xviii+639. ISBN   978-0-12-810987-8. OCLC   1105557028.
  6. ↑ Omkar (2016). "1 Insects and Pests". Ecofriendly pest management for food security. London, UK: Academic Press. pp. xii+750. ISBN   978-0-12-803265-7. OCLC   938789056. ISBN   978-0-12-803266-4. ISBN   0-12-803265-0. ISBN   0-12-803266-9.
  7. ↑ Sarkar, Amar; Harty, Siobhán; Lehto, Soili M.; Moeller, Andrew H.; Dinan, Timothy G.; Dunbar, Robin I.M.; Cryan, John F.; Burnet, Philip W.J. (2018). "The Microbiome in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience". Trends in Cognitive Sciences . 22 (7). Cell Press: 611–636. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.04.006. ISSN   1364-6613. PMID   29907531. S2CID   49223741.
  8. 1 2 Turnbaugh, Peter J.; Gordon, Jeffrey I. (2008). "An Invitation to the Marriage of Metagenomics and Metabolomics". Cell . 134 (5). Cell Press: 708–713. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2008.08.025 . ISSN   0092-8674. PMID   18775300. S2CID   12427440.
  9. 1 2 Douglas, Angela E. (2015-01-07). "Multiorganismal Insects: Diversity and Function of Resident Microorganisms". Annual Review of Entomology . 60 (1). Annual Reviews: 17–34. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-010814-020822. ISSN   0066-4170. PMC   4465791 . PMID   25341109.
  10. 1 2 3 Arora, Arinder K.; Douglas, Angela E. (2017). "Hype or opportunity? Using microbial symbionts in novel strategies for insect pest control". Journal of Insect Physiology . 103. Elsevier: 10–17. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.09.011 . ISSN   0022-1910. PMID   28974456.
  11. ↑ Frago, Enric; Dicke, Marcel; Godfray, H. Charles J. (2012). "Insect symbionts as hidden players in insect–plant interactions". Trends in Ecology & Evolution . 27 (12). Cell Press: 705–711. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2012.08.013. ISSN   0169-5347. PMID   22985943.
  12. ↑ Vavre, Fabrice; Kremer, Natacha (2014-10-01). "Microbial impacts on insect evolutionary diversification: from patterns to mechanisms" (PDF). Current Opinion in Insect Science . 4. Elsevier: 29–34. doi:10.1016/j.cois.2014.08.003. ISSN   2214-5745. PMID   28043405.
  13. ↑ "Kudzu Bug Distribution - Kudzu Bug". 7 December 2022.
  14. ↑ Lovejoy, Riley T.; Johnson, David A. (2014). "A Molecular Analysis of Herbivory in Adults of the Invasive Bean Plataspid, Megacopta cribraria". Southeastern Naturalist . 13 (4). Humboldt Field Research Institute: 663–672. doi:10.1656/058.013.0412. ISSN   1528-7092. S2CID   21315011.

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